A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable device with a telescoping sleeve for protecting a USB connector in a compact format.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Portable electronic devices often have built-in connectors for connection to a host such as a personal computer. USB drives are popular types of memory drives. A USB flash drive is a pocket sized NAND-type flash memory data storage integrated with a USB connector for connection with a computer or other information hosts for stored data exchange. The USB drives are generally a short stick shape extending a few inches in length. Internally, they comprise a circuit board for mounting a NAND flash memory chip, a USB mass storage controller, a crystal oscillator on either surfaces of the circuit board and a USB connector mounted on and protruding from an edge of the circuit board. Additionally, the USB drives may have an LED for indicating data transfer, data read and data write.
A protective casing typically encloses the USB drive except for the USB connector portion. The casing normally has a single physical size per model regardless of memory size. Conventional USB drives may also have unpopulated space for a future second memory chip while allowing a manufacturer to keep only one type of PCB for various models with different storage sizes according to market needs. To keep both the USB drive casing and the PCB components universal for different capacities, the size should not become larger than necessary and the USB drives are preferred to be as small as possible.
For protection of the USB connector from static electricity or other physical damage, the casing typically has a cover for the connector portion. Some have a dielectric plastic cap removably coupled with the drive casing over the connector. The cap may be designed to remain attached to the casing body such as by making it swivel away from the connector during operation. Others employ linearly retractable connector. However, these prior art connection methods only add bulkiness to the USB devices during use because the connector needs to be extended from the casing for operation. When a USB device has to be remained connected to a portable host like a small laptop computer, conventional bulging cases become more difficult to use.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a reduced dimension of USB connection devices inside a smaller yet universal casing for holding various PCB components of different capacities. Another object of the present invention is to provide a durable and compact sleeve for a USB drive.